Posts Tagged ‘probasketballtalk.com’

October 2, 2012 · 10:57AM

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HANG TIME HEADQUARTERS — If this whole basketball thing doesn’t work out for Utah Jazz big man Enes Kanter, he has a fallback plan now that he has become the envy of millions in the weight-loss world.

After tipping the scales at close to 300 pounds at the end of his rookie season, Kanter reportedly shed 51 pounds in two months during the offseason by pushing back from the table and scaling back on the sumo wrestler’s diet that led to his bulky frame.

Kanter’s old daily diet.

Lunch: A pasta (such as chicken alfredo), a burger and an appetizer of some sort.

For dinner: Kanter ate another burger and some kind of large entree. Finally, dessert. Now he’s down to salad and seafood.

Kanter wasn’t shy about showing off his new physique on his Twitter feed, and who can blame him when you’re abbed out like this and like this. Take away the sensational element involved in his weight loss parade and it’s clear that he’s serious about being a bigger factor this season for the Jazz.

Not only did he cut down considerably on his carbs (and virtually everything else), Kanter went to work with his trainer and recrafted his body and his game. If he sees similar results on the floor from the hard work he’s put in, the Jazz will have another frontcourt gem to rely on this season.

September 3, 2012 · 11:11AM

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HANG TIME HEADQUARTERS — We don’t normally delve into matters concerning rookies, not with our main and rookie guru Drew Packham already on the case.

But it’s been brought to our attention, courtesy of Kurt Helin of ProBasketballTalk, that the No. 1 overall pick in the June Draft will not go into this season as everyone’s early favorite to win Rookie of the Year honors.

The player muddying up that distinction is Summer League Co-MVP and Portland Trail Blazers point guard Damian Lillard, whose grind from unheralded recruit to the sixth pick in the 2012 Draft is success story that resonates from his roots in his hometown of Oakland and all around the basketball world.

We left Las Vegas with the U.S. Senior Men’s National Team in July, so the only thing we saw of the rookies is what we learned from DP’s extensive reporting and what we could gather from the games on NBA TV. The one guy we did see up close, the aforementioned No. 1 overall pick Anthony Davis, looked pretty dang good in London in helping the U.S. win Olympic gold. So while Lillard will be the trendy pick for many, we’re going to stick with Davis as HT’s pick.

That said, Helin makes an interesting case for Lillard:

When I saw him at Summer League in Las Vegas he clearly was not. He was an explosive athlete. He can and did score and there were moments you pictured a Russell Westbrook like attacker. But he also showed way more polish as a rookie than scoring guards like Westbrook and Derrick Rose showed.

What is more, he goes on to a team with LaMarcus Aldridge and Nicolas Batum, as well as some other veterans. He’s got a guy on the wing and an All-Star in the post to play off. Guys he can feed for open looks, guys who create lanes for him because the defense can’t help. Yes, the talent he has to face (particularly at the point) is substantially better at the NBA level than Summer League, but he is in a position to succeed.

That is, if he is given the green light. If the goal of the Blazers coaching staff is to control him and not let a rookie make decisions, he will be limited.

February 23, 2012 · 9:31AM

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ORLANDO — Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry suffered a right foot injury against the Suns during last night’s game and will not be attending All-Star Weekend festivities here, per his agent Lance Young.

Young, via email, said the injury was to a tendon in Curry’s foot, and “nothing with his ankle.” But he said that it would prevent Curry making the trip here, where he was scheduled to defend his title in the Taco Bell Skills Challenge.

Rather than making the trip, Young said Curry would rest and rehab his injury this weekend. He’s already missed nine games this season with an ankle injury.

Curry missed a layup with 2:29 remaining in the first quarter and landed awkwardly. He went to the locker room and tried to come back just before halftime, but was unable to return to the game.

Stephen Curry sat dejected in front of his locker Wednesday night, shirtless and with his right foot soaking in a tub of ice water. The unhappy look on his face wasn’t a product of the game’s result — a 106-104 victory for his Warriors over the Suns in Phoenix. It was due to the fact that he was bitten by the injury bug once again.

… “It’s just something different,” Curry said with a bit of disbelief, while trying to describe the injury afterward. “They haven’t figured out if it’s my tendon or my plantar fascia yet, but it’s on the other side so it’s not my ankle, which is good.”

… “I tried to make a cut, but it didn’t respond they way I thought it would,” Curry said. “Coach made the decision in the second half just to let it rest.”

Warriors head coach Mark Jackson said that he didn’t see the need to force the issue.

“I’m not an expert, but the right thing to do was to shut it down and make sure that he takes advantage of the rest that we have moving forward, and get the proper treatment or whatever the doctors say,” he said.

It’s not LeBron James this time, though, who plays the star in this drama.

After watching Wade frown and scowl his way through the end of the season in The Finals, and with good reason, it is nice to see him laughing and smiling again.

As for that reality show … if it’s anything like the three minutes of hilarious energy displayed in his viral ode to the hackers of the world, we’re buying.

In addition to Wade and James, the Heat could add reality show veteran Eddy Curry to the cast as well, — he starred in the highly underrated “PREPS: Chicago Hoops” back in 2001 alongside Pistons guard Will Bynum, former Duke point guard Sean Dockery and others.